Carboxylic acids

Today’s post represents not so much a pattern in alkene reactions, so much as it does a very common reaction that bears mentioning along with the rest. What makes this reaction special is that it does not simpl…

In this post (the 6th of 6) we finish up going through all the Khan Academy videos for organic chemistry [videos 65-73]. For previous posts in this series, see [1 2 3 4 5] Video #65 – Keto-Enol Tautomerism Lengt…

Common dilemma in organic chemistry as you move through the latter parts of Org 1 and then into Org 2: When more than one reaction is possible, how do you know which one will happen? In a steel cage match between an a…

Last time I talked about pKa and how it’s the closest thing we have to a universal measurement of the strengths of all kinds of different acids and bases. I also referred to a post on how to use a pKa table …

The Fischer esterification is one of the most important reactions of carboxylic acids. Treatment of carboxylic acids with an alcohol in the presence of acid catalyst leads to the formation of esters, along with the el…

In a blatant plug for the Reagent Guide and the Reagents App for iPhone, each Friday I profile a different reagent that is commonly encountered in Org 1/ Org 2. One of the things about learning organic chemist…

Once you get a handle on oxidations and reductions, you might start to notice that with some molecules these reactions can proceed in sequences. For example, if you start with an alkane with a CH3 group, the alkane ca…

Iron smelting! Photo credit: http://sclowcountryoutdoors.blogspot.com/2011/02/iron-smelting-at-acba.html In the beginning, the term actually made sense. When the alchemists and medieval metallurgists started doing …

About Master Organic Chemistry

After doing a PhD in organic synthesis at McGill and a postdoc at MIT, I applied for faculty positions at universities and it didn’t work out, yada yada yada. So I decided to teach organic chemistry anyway! Master Organic Chemistry is the resource I wish I had when I was learning the subject.